The global travel downturn disrupted supply changes, putting a fresh focus on the role airlines play in flying cargo. Flying a goodly portion of the world’s cargo has always been an important if overlooked, part of operations at most airlines. But cargo is now firmly in the spotlight and airlines are moving to make the most of it as commercial passenger flights, particularly on long-haul international sectors, remains significantly down on 2019 levels.
Preighters a short term fix for a longer-term cargo capacity problem
Recently, Cirium published a paper on the state of air cargo. “Fueling Momentum” details how many passenger airlines have adapted aircraft to fly cargo. In particular, the report dives into preighters, the term cooked up by Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr to describe the temporary conversion of passenger aircraft into freighters.
Cirium says 200 aircraft have had their seats temporarily removed to make space for cargo. Widebodies make up the bulk (81.5%) of this fleet. Cirium states 63 Airbus A330s and 68 Boeing 777s have been flying as preighters.
Forty-seven, or 23.5%, of those 200 planes belong to Chinese airlines, with China Eastern Airlines alone temporarily converting 19 of its A330s into preighters. The remaining 28 aircraft are spread over nine Chinese airlines. Cirum’s Bin He says this happened because cargo demand remained strong in China when airlines cut back on passenger flights. Consequently, a short term solution was needed – preighters.
Other airlines investing significantly in temporary conversions are Lufthansa (ten A330s) and Emirates (18 Boeing 777s). Emirates says their 777 preighters can fly 17 tonnes of cargo on the main passenger deck. While the demand for PPE and medical supplies has softened, general cargo demand remains strong. Driving much of that growth is e-commerce, growing in the air cargo sector by 27.6% annually…